''House to Astonish'' is a podcast (originally fortnightly, but less regular following its last hiatus) about comics, presented by Paul O'Brien (''[[http://www.esoterica.demon.co.uk/reviews.html The X-Axis-]]'') and Al Kennedy (''[[http://onehundreddays.typepad.com/blog/ One Hundred Days of Comics]]''). Both formerly wrote for the ''[[http://www.ninthart.org/ Ninth Art]]'' comics webzine before it folded.

The podcast takes an irreverent (and UK-based) look at comics news (which invariably leads them on some strange tangents), looks through ''Previews'', reviews a few titles that the presenters think look interesting (which does not necessarily mean "good"), and concludes with ''The Official Handbook To The OfficialHandbookOfTheMarvelUniverse'', which digs up deservedly obscure characters and imagines how they might fit into the modern MarvelUniverse.

It can be found [[http://housetoastonish.libsyn.com/webpage/general/page/1 here]] (with earlier episodes [[http://housetoastonish.podomatic.com here]]), and an associated blog [[http://www.housetoastonish.com/ here]]. ----

'''This podcast contains examples of'''

* AscendedExtra: ''The Official Handbook to the Offical Handbook'' is all about how oneshot villains might Ascend.* BritishAccents: They're both Scottish. There's also Al's impression of Cockney Frank Cho, which has branched out into giving other American comic creators arbitrary regional accents. (Making Cho a cockney wasn't entirely arbitrary; it drives home the [[MostCommonSuperpower main theme]] of his work by making him sound like a stereotyped sleazy PageThreeStunna photographer.)-->'''[[DeadpanSnarker Paul]]''': [[SarcasmMode It's like Mike Yarwood was in the room]].* CausticCritic: Sometimes. They're quite happy to declare how much they liked a book, but they'll really put the boot in if they didn't.** Although this was before House To Astonish, Paul's reviews of [[SoBadItsHorrible the last few issues of Mutant X]] (an {{ComicBook/X-Factor}} spinoff series) are classic, and will leave you convinced that Plan9FromOuterSpace must've been an absolute masterpiece compared to that comic.* EskimosArentReal: The Netherlands has an entry in the ''Official Handbook''. Therefore, the Netherlands was made up by Marvel writers.* AGoodNameForARockBand: Their reaction to some of the ''Comicbook/{{Flashpoint}}'' books with "X and the Ys" titles.* HypocriticalHumor: In the middle of their 2012 awards episode - in which the winners are announced by Belfast Nick Lowe, Australian GailSimone, Glaswegian Jim Lee, Received Pronunciation Creator/BrianMichaelBendis, Midlands ([[OohMeAccentsSlipping mostly]]) GeoffJohns, Cockney Frank Cho (of course), [[UpToEleven French]] Creator/AlanMoore, and Welsh StanLee - Al criticises the way Bendis writes [[Comicbook/XMen Emma Frost]], because you can't just take someone with an established accent and give them another accent at random.* MadLibsCatchphrase: Always opens with "And in the week when [genuine news event], we ask: [strange comics tangent]?"-->"And in the week when riots and flames engulf the whole of England, we ask: Are these ''Comicbook/FearItself'' tie-ins going a bit far?"* {{Metaphorgotten}}: On the cancellation of ''ComicBook/{{Morbius}} the Living Vampire'' after less than a year:-->'''Paul''': Basically, straight out the gate it's fallen off a cliff. And that's a stupid place to put a gate.-->'''Al''': ''{Laughter}'' That is very, very true. Perhaps the cliff wasn't there before? -->'''Paul''': Well, it's there now.-->'''Al''': Maybe it's been subsidence. Maybe it's been one of those things where an entire cliff face has fallen into the sea.* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Mocked in the episode "Zombie Pirate Ninja Monkey Viking Cowboy", in which they complain that this sort of thing often isn't nearly as awesome as it sounds, and diminishing returns are setting in on how awesome it even sounds. What set them off was a comic called ''Werewolves on the Moon Versus Vampires''.* ReleasedToElsewhere: Apparently, DCComics have sent WildstormComics to live on a farm, and it's very happy there.* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: Parodied. At the end of one podcast, Al announced that ''TOHOTOH'' was being retired and replaced with a new, totally original concept ... which turned out to be ''Who's Who in Who's Who in the DCUniverse''.* TitleDrop: The title of each episode is the most bizarre phrase used in it, such as "A House Made of Baked Beans" and "Is the Nazi the Donkey?"* VerbalTic: Paul says "to be fair..." a lot.* WordSaladTitle: "House to Astonish" looks like the names of two comics were dropped in a blender. Which is precisely the case: it comes from a proposed ComicBook/AmalgamUniverse title by Creator/MarkWaid that would have combined ''ComicBook/HouseOfMystery'' and ''TalesToAstonish''.----